City Farm For Leadenhall: British Land Goes Shopping

The competition to temporarily transform the "cheese grater" Leadenhall site has been won by a young Bath practice who want to install a city farm, allotments and wild flowers until the developers, British Land, feel ready to run with their Rogers' designed tower. Hooray for Medieval City planning laws that allow sheep, goats, pigs and a cow on the plot!

However, while this land lies fallow in property terms for up to 5 years, British Land aren't sitting back in expectation of enjoying the pastoral scene. They're digging into a £3bn "war chest" to snap up assets worth up to £1.5bn over the next 2 years. Given their close relationship with two of our major league supermarkets we suspect they'll be investing in some sure fire profitable acquisitions rather than fancy schmancy skyscrapers but such bullish investment could signify an imminent upturn in the property market. Let's just hope we get to enjoy our new city farm and tranquil urban oasis for at least a couple of years.